The Gortons and Slades - Washington Secretary of State

92 sLAde goRton: A hALf centuRy in poLitics
chummy relationship between the White House and big business,” noted
that before becoming attorney general Gorton “coincidentally” had been a
member of a law firm that represented one of the defendants in the antitrust
case. Further, she wrote, executives of the electrical equipment industry
had been major donors to the Nixon presidential campaign in 1968. 29
Gorton said he had met with Ehrlichman only to see if he could help
persuade the Justice Department to delay its own grand jury probe into
the fee-splitting case. If the state’s case couldn’t move forward first, costs
would escalate.
Despite Ehrlichman’s “sympathetic attention,” the feds pushed ahead.
And just as he’d feared, Gorton said, Washington taxpayers got stuck with
higher bills. The real bottom line, however, was his “firm belief that it is
both improper and illegal for an attorney general to take a secret legal fee
of more than $500,000 in a case in which he represented the state in his
official, salaried position. . . . The concerted effort on the part of those
involved in this fee-splitting venture to make themselves look like heroes
is certainly no secret. I can’t believe it will succeed. It would be ironic indeed
if, by charging ‘politics,’ elected officials could gain immunity from
so much as being questioned about serious conflicts of interest.” 30
Earlier, Dore and Martin Durkan, the heavy-hitting Democrat from
Renton, had grilled Gorton during a meeting of the Senate Appropriations
Committee. When Gorton lost the fee-splitting case, Dore declared
that “the public can only conclude that the attorney general never had a
case to start with or that it was not properly handled.” 31
The State Labor Council chimed in, calling for Gorton to resign. Ed Donohoe,
the witheringly cantankerous editor of The Washington Teamster, called
him a man who “only blows the big ones.” 32 Joe Davis, the president of the
Labor Council, charged that Gorton had also flubbed a consumer-protection
suit against Ralph Williams, a wheeler-dealer car salesman. Gorton countered
that he had still driven Williams out of business. Davis went on to accuse
the attorney general of being in cahoots with a court-appointed geographer
to cook up a redistricting plan favorable to the Republicans. A sure sign
that it was open season on Gorton came when two members of the old guard
took to the floor of the Senate to flay Gorton and the Seattle P-I’s habitually
contrarian Shelby Scates for belonging to the same investment club. 33
Gorton seemed to be everywhere at once. He was instrumental in the
Legislature’s enactment of the Shoreline Management Act. His staff was
particularly busy on the consumer-protection front. The office moved to
ground fly-by-night hearing aid salesmen; targeted warranties that were
riddled with loopholes; advocated more rights for car buyers and argued for